Flexible cables are used in many applications to transmit rotary motion or torque from a driving shaft to a driven shaft. The flexible cable typically includes an outer protective sheath or casing and an inner drive member or core disposed within the outer protective casing. The ends of the outer protective casing are attached to fixed members such as motor or gear box housings and the ends of the core are connected to driving and driven elements such as rotary shafts. The driving element moves the core which transfers the movement to the driven element. Flexible cables are advantageous because they transfer movement when there is misalignment or noncoaxial alignment between the driving and driven elements. The flexible cables, however, often have vibration during operation which can cause undesirable noise and can become unintentionally disconnected due to vibrations or other forces.
Attempts have been made to strengthen the connection of flexible cables. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,270, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, which discloses a flex shaft cover retention device. The cover or sheath of the flex shaft is stretched over a fixed coupling having at least one radially extending projection. While this retention device may be an improvement over some prior art configurations, it remains less than ideal. The pull off strength of the sheath may be less than desirable because of the lack of an interlocking connection between the sheath and the coupling. Additionally, the sheath is difficult to install due to the amount of stretching that is required and may not be reusable do to stretching. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved flexible cable assembly which has ease of assembly, adequate pull off strength, and/or reduced noise caused by vibrations during operation.